"Truce!" Isla finally called, waving a stick like a flag. "Truce! I can't feel my fingers!"
"Victory is mine!" Sierra declared, raising her arms triumphantly before immediately plopping down.
"That's what you get for gloating," Estelle said with satisfaction, though she was already moving to help Sierra up.
These girls. These perfect, insane, wonderful girls.
As the laughter died down and the reality of soaked clothes and freezing temperatures set in, practical considerations began to assert themselves.
The girls made their way back toward the cabin—back toward us—leaving a trail of snow and wet footprints in their wake.
"Hot showers all around," I announced as they reached the porch steps. "Before you all get sick and I have to explain to Daddy Easton why I brought you home as popsicles."
"My family would probably just be impressed that you got me into the snow. Especially Crew,” Isla said with a grin, shaking snow out of her hair.
"They'd be impressed by a lot more than that," I replied with a wink that made her cheeks flush even pinker than the cold had already made them.
As they trooped inside, chattering about hot chocolate and warm fires, I lingered on the porch for a moment longer.
The view was spectacular—endless mountains stretching toward the horizon, pine trees heavy with snow, the kind of pristine wilderness that made you feel like the last people on earth.
But beautiful as it was, it wasn't what made this place special. What made it special was the people inside, the family we'd built from blood and bullets, and a love that most people would never understand.
"Coming in, Romeo?" Jax called from the doorway.
"Yeah, yeah," I rolled my eyes, taking one last look at the winter wonderland around us. "Just savoring the moment."
"Plenty more moments where that came from," Connor said as I finally headed inside. "We've got decades of this ahead of us."
Decades of this. Decades of them.
The idea of decades with Isla, years of watching her make snowangels, argue with me about pine needles, and look at me like I hung the moon... that sounded like heaven.
The living room had transformed into a perfect Christmas sanctuary as evening settled over the mountains. Snow fell in gentle curtains beyond the windows, each flake catching the Christmas lights that twinkled from every surface.
The fire crackled merrily in the stone hearth, casting dancing shadows across the rustic wooden beams and filling the air with the comforting scent of burning cedar.
Soft holiday music drifted around, something instrumental and peaceful that wrapped around us like a warm embrace.
The scent of pine from the towering Christmas tree mingled with lingering traces of cinnamon and vanilla from our earlier baking adventures, creating an atmosphere so perfectly festive it felt like the chaos actually receded.
The girls had claimed the oversized sofa, all three of them bundled together under a mountain of soft blankets and wearing their coziest pajamas.
Isla sat in the middle, her silky pajamas making her look like an angel against the deep cushions, while Sierra and Estelle flanked her on either side in their own festive sleepwear.
"I can't believe Kevin didn’t tell his parents,” Sierra was saying, gesturing at the projector screen where credits were rolling. “There were robbers in their house!”
“I would kill them,” Estelle replied with a shake of her head. “Leo better tell me everything if he has an adventure remotely like this.”
"Eight-year-old Leo will be too busy being crowded by Avery,” Isla said with a grin. “She’s literally announced to her friends that he isherdinosaur expert.
Their laughter bubbled up like champagne, light and effervescent.
I watched from the kitchen doorway where I'd been putting thefinishing touches on our surprise, feeling that familiar warmth spread through my chest at the sight of them so relaxed and happy.
Connor and Jax appeared beside me in the hallway, both adjusting their black ski masks and checking the small wrapped gift boxes in our hands.
We'd recoordinated this surprise since the girls interrupted us with their whole lingerie adventure last night.
